Road maintenance

My husband and I stopped by City Hall today to lodge a formal complaint regarding the lack of maintenance on Morning Star Road and ask that the public works department address the problem.

The city clerk that helped us said she had been instructed to cease taking requests for maintenance of Morning Star, until all of the due diligence was completed that would lead to the road being paved. We were aware that the city received funds for the paving some time ago.

When asked, the city clerk could not tell us when the road might be paved but that it definitely would not be before the spring, when the temperature is at levels needed for the process.

The road is now in a terrible state of disrepair and very hard on cars. I can't imagine how much worse it might be 6 months from now. We have needed to have our cars realigned more than once in the last few years and friends with nice cars prefer to meet us in town for dinner instead of coming to our home which is off Morning Star. I have to believe you do not personally travel this road on any regular basis to understand how difficult it is to drive.

Everyone tries to use the left side of the road as it rises after the first wash because the right side is so unstable and this then causes everyone to come out of the wash and need to make a quick adjustment to on coming vehicles in a momentary blind curve.

This is a town road just like every other town road and we tax paying citizens desire the same service and maintenance afforded to all other town roads.

I hope you will reconsider taking a ride out to see the problem and then lift the cease and assist decree on maintenance of Morningstar road.

Carefree Christmas Light Parade

As 30 year residents of Cave Creek, my husband and I went to the Carefree Christmas Light parade for the first time tonight.

The parade was awesome, everyone put a lot of effort and time into their floats and entries, but after it was over, I remembered why it has been so long since we've attended any of the parades and festivities in our area.

I was disgusted at the amount of trash that was littering the streets when the crowds cleared out. There were trash bins placed all around, and yet not very many people seemed to care.

Back in the "old days," only locals attended the celebrations up here, they weren't advertised all over the Valley, and we all took pride in our towns and cleaned up after ourselves.

Arizona in play? Really?

The Obama campaign confidently talks of widening the 2012 battleground map into traditionally Republican states they failed to carry in 2008. At the top of their list is Arizona, a state that Obama lost by 8.5 percent in 2008 and has only favored a Democrat once in a Presidential election since 1948 – Bill Clinton won there in 1996 with less than 47 percent of the vote. The rationale, they say, is demographic changes favor them, and Obama’s chances will be better without an Arizonan like John McCain also on the ballot.

Recent polling from PPP should throw a little cold water on the Obama campaign’s enthusiasm. In a survey conducted last month, Obama only managed a dismal 41 percent job approval rating. As is the case in many states, Obama’s numbers today represent a significant slide since earlier this year. In May, PPP found voters in Arizona disapproved of Obama’s job performance by a 4 point margin (46 percent approve, 50 percent disapprove). Today that margin stands at 13 points (41 percent approve, 54 percent disapprove) among all voters, and a whopping 22 points (35 percent approve, 57 percent disapprove) among Independent voters. This downward momentum doesn’t suggest Obama is in a position to improve on his 2008 performance there.

There is also little to suggest Arizona itself is becoming more hospitable to other Democrat candidates. Just last year Republicans netted two US House seats, John McCain was easily re-elected to the US Senate, and Republicans added to their majorities in the state legislature. Today Republicans hold every statewide partisan office and hold two-to-one majorities in both chambers of the legislature. Nothing here screams “purple state.

The 2010 elections also dented the conventional wisdom that the growth in the Hispanic population in the Southwest would make it harder for Republican candidates to be successful there. Republican candidates clearly were successful in the Southwest in 2010, and Arizona is now flanked by two states with strong Hispanic Republicans at the helm – Governor Susana Martinez in New Mexico, and Governor Brian Sandoval in Nevada.

Perhaps the most important signal the state is trending positively for Republicans can be seen in voter registration statistics. The GOP registration advantage which had dipped from 160,000 in 2006 to 90,000 in 2009 has surged since 2010. Republicans now outnumber Democrats by over 150,000 among active voters statewide. Taken together with his poor marks among Independent voters it becomes hard to mathematically find enough voters for Obama to win, even if all Democrats eventually hold their noses and vote for him.

If the Obama campaign wants to spend millions in a state he lost in 2008, we welcome that strategy because it means he won’t be spending it in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida where he won in 2008 and is currently under water in the polls. Team Obama may spin they are on offense but some advice for them would be to double-down on defense or the President will have plenty of time to vacation in sunny Arizona after the election.

Cardon: Washington has it wrong. Pay roll tax cuts need to be a part of sweeping tax reforms.

PHOENIX – As the deadline approaches for Congress to agree on extending the current temporary pay roll tax cut, U.S. Senate candidate Wil Cardon, a Mesa businessman, said, "Once again Washington is missing the point."

"Any pay roll tax cut should be part of a comprehensive pro-growth tax reform package to fix the country's dire economic situation and create a stable environment for job creators," said Cardon, the conservative outsider in the race. "This comprehensive reform must include lower tax rates for all taxpayers, a reduction in our uncompetitive high corporate rate and the closing of corporate welfare loopholes. Another unfair tax plaguing our small business owners, ranchers and farmers is the death tax which must be eliminated and the unfair bracket creep Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) which should also be repealed.

"As a businessman and job creator, I believe lower taxes empower individuals and businesses while limiting Washington's ability to spend and waste more money. Obviously, comprehensive tax reform has no chance of passing before the end of the year, but if Congress is to approve another pay roll tax cut it should not be temporary and it should be paired with across the board cuts in discretionary spending equal to the pay roll tax cut.

They must find a remedy to avoid injuring the Social Security funds that will be reduced in any pay roll tax deduction.

"The Senate is filled with career politicians with no understanding of what it takes to create jobs and grow our economy. Washington needs more businessmen and women who have worked in the private sector and understand how to grow our economy and create jobs. The career politicians are failing America and that is why I am running for the U. S. Senate."Back

Open mic nights

I'd just like to give a huge shout-out to a bunch of real fine people.

First of all, thanks to all the wonderful people at The Smokehouse (Wednesday evenings) and the Cave Creek Coffee Company (Thursday evenings) for allowing 'open mic' nights at their terrific establishments.

Also, a great deal of thanks and gratitude go to Pandy and Mike and Mad Coyote Joe and Larry and John and Hatman Dan and Steve and Ernie Bunch and all the rest of 'em -for being there when all of us aspiring (or over-the-hill) musicians need them.

All too often, when our worlds seem to be crashing down around our ears, the simple act of performing before a group of appreciative - and never judgmental - friends, is the balm we need to get us through another week.

A tip o' the hat also goes to all of the guys and girls that get up on those stages and lay bare their souls for a few short minutes each week - folks that try to tell their stories through their songs. They are my heroes.

So, please – come on out and have yourselves a ball – Wednesday nights at The Smokehouse and Thursday nights at C4. It'll do you a world of good.

We can’t survive another 4 years of Obama!

I am not foolish to think that we got to this disastrous financial juncture by any one party. I only know that apples don't fall far from the tree and that Obama's parents hated this nation as do many of his closest friends. Even his wife, Michelle, only stated late in her husband's bid for the nomination that: "for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of America." I guarantee that the media is going to slam down any candidate the Republicans put up. And although my top choices are Michelle Bachmann and Ron Paul, I know, without any hesitation, that any candidate other than Obama is a better choice for the survival of this failing nation. Long live the US Constitution!

My Christmas letter or Rant

Some will view this rant one way and others will say he's right but I don't know what to do about it.

This Garfield cartoon triggered my thinking.

Again, this year I will not be giving Christmas presents.

Because:

1. I can't afford it and I am unable to roam shopping stores.

2. I am troubled about the loss of the true meaning of the holiday. Are there many who really can't afford it and are using money they should be spending on their family?

Back to number 2. The powerful media has us completely brain washed. Black Friday, 22 Emails for free gifts or 20 percent off for shopping pre-Christmas sales today, etc. Must have because it is fashionable, or I gotta have Laszlo’s perfume, a imprinted T-Shirt, a CD just released, etc.

May we should rethink Christmas and change the “I gotta give gifts.”

Some alternates people use are:
Draw a name and give your selection a truly nice gift. Maybe with a $50 cap.

Limit all gifts to $XX dollars and stop the emphasis on give me, give me.

Only give gifts to your immediate family and open them Christmas day and spend Christmas Eve in celebration of the tribulation of Christ.

Gather all of your family, have a nice dinner and sing Christmas carols together with some hot chocolate or a stronger stimulant. And go to church. They entertain very nicely with choirs singing Hallelujah with a trumpet playing melody or a church on Central Ave and Bethany Home Road has real camels and donkeys in their presentation. Now I ask you, where can you get free entertainments like that and hear some words from a pastor or priest that helps to level out your life?

This world is a crazy world of gift giving. Let's get back to some fundamentals and practice some basics. Guess what then, no Christmas stress or shopping exhaustion. The number one spending day in America is Christmas Eve surpassing the day after Thanksgiving.

Holiday greetings? Foggetabboudid!

Mr. President:

I know that every year you wish (fellow) Muslims a "Ramadan Kareem." As a Christian of Sephardic ancestry, I want to know whether you are planning to wish us both "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Hanukah" during the upcoming holiday season. I do not recall your ever having done so.

Reform the way congressional candidates are selected

The post office is going bankrupt and congress fails to act. The country is borrowing $38,000 each and every second and congress fails to act. A super committee of congress is appointed to address deficit reduction. The super committee fails to act.

We elected these clowns and we must replace them. Replacing them with a clown from a different party does no good. I urge you to join the non partisan organization I found at www.goooh.com that will reform the way congressional candidates are selected. GOOOH (pronounced Go) intends to challenge incumbents, in the primaries, with citizen representatives chosen by the members of their district. Will you act to save your country or will you, like congress, fail?

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